Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1887-11-24
LEATHER FROM HUMAN SKIN.
A FIourishing Pennsylvania kTannery
Where IL In Prepared FOR the
Shoemaker,

Shoemaker.
remember that two or three years
ago incidentally referred to a promi.
nent physician Of Philadelphia wearing
shoes made from the skin Of negroes.
He still adheres to that custom. insist
ing that the tanned hide of the African
makes the most enduring and the most
pliable leather known to men.
Recently met him upon the street
with brand new pair of shoes. |
looked at his footwear, us | always do
his pedal coverings have an irreslsti-
BILE fascination for me-and said with q
smile, is the down-trodden African
still beneath your feet y In the most
matter-of fact way, and without the
shadow Of n smile, he answered, Il sup
pose YOU mean TO inquire il | still wear
shoes made Of the skin of negro.
certainly do, and don't propose chang
ing in that respect until find a leather
that is softer and will last longer and
present better appearance. | have no
sentiment about this matter. Were /
southerner-in the American sense of
that word-I might be accused of being
actuate6 10y race prejudice. But |
am a foreigner by birth, although now
al American citizen by naturalization.
| fought in theRebellon that the blacks
might be freed. l would use n white
mans skin for the same purpose if it
were sufficiently thick, and if any one
has desire to wear my epidermis upon
his feet after l haye drawn my last
breath he has my ante-mortem permis-
sion.'
The doctors shoes always exhibit
peculiarly rich lustrousnesS in their
blackness. He assures me that they
never hurt his feet. The new pair he
was using when last saw HIM emitted
no creaking sound and appeared as
comfortable as though they had been
worn a month. Their predecessors, he
told me, had been In constant use for
eight months. He obtains the skin
from the! bodies of negroes which have
have been dissected la one of our medi-
cal colleges. The best leather is obtain
ed from the thigh. The soles are form
ed by placing several layers of leather
together. The skin is prepared by
tanner at Womelsdorf, Is miles from
Reading. The shoes are fashioned by
French shoemaker of Philadelphia.
who knows nothing OF the true chaIac-
ter of the leather, but who often MOD
ders at its exquisite smothness and says
that it eXcels the finest French calf
skin.
Do not for moment think that this
doctor presents I'm exceptional case of
one who puts the human skin Ia practi-
cal use. Medical students frequently
display great variety of articles in
which the skin or bones Of some dis
sected mortal has been gruesomely util-
ized and in bursts of generosity they
sometimes present these TO their
friends, who prize them hi-hly. One
of the dudest dudes in Philadelphia car
ries match-safe covered with n portion
OF the skin OF a beautiful Young woman
who wps found drowned in the Della
ware River. 1t still retains its natural
color. Another young man with whom
am acquainted carries "a cigar case
made OF negro skin, "a gastly skull and
crosS-bones appearing on one side in re-
lief. One of the best known SURGEONS
Ia thIo LVuutIy, VINO resides In Phlla-
delphia, has beautiful instrument case
entirely covered with leather from ar
Africans skin. A young society lady
Of Philadelphia, wears beautiful pair
of dark slippers, The remarkable lus-
trousness of whose leather invariably
excites the admiration of her friends
when they see them. The young doc
tor who presented them to her recently
returned from an extended foreign tour
and he told her he had purchased them
from Turk IN Alexandria and that he
did not know what sort of leather they
were made of, but he supposed it was
the skin of some wild animal. AS
matter of fact, the skin came from a
negro cadaver which once was prore
on Jefferson College dissecting table,
and the leather was prepared in Wom-
elsdorf. The rosettes on the slippers
were deftly fashioned from the negro's
kinky hair.